In recent years, it has been said that owing to the influence of chemical treatment such as hair coloring or physical treatment by blow drying, cuticles on the hair surface peel off or the hair becomes porous by the efflux of lipids from the inside of the hair and as a result, the hair inevitably becomes excessively dry, resistant to finger combing, difficult to style and manage, and lusterless.
Commercially available hair cosmetic compositions which have been popularly used for providing the hair with manageability and protecting the hair from excessive drying are emulsion type products such as hair cream having wax, higher alcohol and surfactant and gels having a film forming polymer (set polymer). Such hair cosmetic compositions can temporarily overcome the problems such as poor manageability and excessive dryness by causing an oil or fat or a polymer to adhere to the hair surface, but cannot fundamentally improve the strength/body or manageability of the hair.
Some hair cosmetic compositions for improving the hair quality are known. Compositions using a specific organic acid and organic solvent which intend to improve hair quality by acting on the inside of the hair are known (refer to, for example, JP-A-1995-112921, JP-A-1994-172131, JP-A-1997-301831 and JP-A-1994-298625). These compositions promote manageability of the hair by softening the hair which is stiff and therefore, hard to handle.